Alonso walks it off for Rumble Ponies

The thought of extra innings on a cool and cloudy night wasn't what Peter Alonso had in mind, so he decided to do something about it.
The Mets' No. 4 prospect capped a two-homer night with a walk-off blast in the ninth inning, giving Double-A Binghamton a 6-5 victory over Erie on Tuesday at NYSEG Stadium. Jeff McNeil tied it with a two-out jack in the ninth, two days after hitting for the cycle. That set the stage for Alonso, who recorded three hits in his third career multi-homer game.

"As [McNeil] was rounding the bases, I knew what I needed to do," Alonso said. "Standing there in the on-deck circle, I said to myself, 'I really don't want to be here all night, so let's follow suit.' So that's what I did.
"I'm not a speed guy or someone that is gonna start a rally like that. My only option is to try and drive the ball. I know I hit it well and I was thinking, 'Please get over, please get over.' My mindset is always that I'm gonna win and no matter what you throw, I'm gonna take my A-swing. I'm out there to beat you."
Gameday box score
The 23-year-old struck out in the first, then cut Binghamton's deficit to 3-2 with a solo homer to left-center in the third. He popped out in his next at-bat and drove in a run with an infield single in the seventh.
With the Rumble Ponies trailing, 5-4, in the ninth, Champ Stuart struck out and Levi Michael grounded out. McNeil worked the count to 2-1 against reliever Mark Ecker (2-3) before tying in with a long ball to right, his eighth of the season. Alonso ended the game two pitches later with a shot to center, his 11th roundtripper of the season.
"Jeff came up to me in the dugout [in the ninth] and asked me if there was anything he should do during his at-bat," Alonso said. "I told him to just shut up and hit the fastball, and that's what he did. He worked the count in his favor, got a pitch he could handle and parked it. He was super jacked up."
The Tampa native has gone deep three times in his last three games after leaving the yard once in his previous 13 contests and is tied with New Hampshire's Cavan Biggio for the Eastern League lead in homers. Alonso was 7-for-32 (.219) in his first 10 games this month, which dropped his average from .400 to .352. However, he's gotten it back up to .367 with a 9-for-20 (.450) stretch over five games.

"Hitting is hard, whether you're going good or bad," Alonso said. "It's just one of those things where I was taking good swings and sometimes the cards don't fall in your favor. My approach was good, but no one is going to be perfect at the plate. [The slump] was a slight speed bump, but for me I focused on staying consistent with my process. Deviating from it would have just helped me dig a deeper hole. I didn't need to try and change things that don't need changing. I have faith in myself to let things run their course." 

Mets No. 17 prospect Jhoan Urena singled three times and drove in a run for the Rumble Ponies, while McNeil extended his hitting streak to 14 games with his seventh multi-hit effort of the season. The 25-year-old leads the league with 22 extra-base hits, two more than Alonso.
"Jeff has really turned it on, which is great to see," Alonso said. "Seeing him hit for the cycle was really special. Doing that is like pitching a perfect game on the mound -- it just doesn't happen very often. He's swinging a white-hot bat and I'm really happy for him."
Josh Lester went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs and Will Maddox singled twice for Erie.